Our impact

Read more about what we do and how we create lasting impact.

Norman Pickavance

Case Studies

Ross Nicholson, Co-Founder

Purposeful strategy for innovating financial services, Grant Thornton

Following the election of Sacha Romanovitch on a purpose agenda, we were contacted by Norman Pickavance to bring in fresh thinking. We helped to define the role of a board to support the innovation of products and services. Norman came to Six Degree People having used all the big search firms before but found us unique because we talked the language of the board and focused on business development and value creation. We made connections to CEO’s of partner organisations, giving Grant Thornton insight from the leading edge of where business is shifting to balance financial and societal returns. Board appointments included leaders from scaled brands that had embedded purpose; a CEO of an ethical businesses that had scaled and a senior executive with experience in injecting purpose into corporates.

Norman Pickavance, Brand Director

“Six Degree People are a disruptive presence. They are a node on a network of creative and disruptive leaders around the world, people who think differently and are prepared to challenge conventional thinking, people who have started to put these ideas into practice, to make the world and the world of business a different place. They know all of these people and are connected to everything that is going on.

Tap into the team at Six Degree People, and you tap into an alternative universe, a universe that looks like the future of business, a network that any business that wants a future needs to be connected to.”

Michael La Cour

Case Studies

Ross Nicholson, Co-Founder

Reinventing products & services, IKEA

We were approached by Michael Le Coeur, IKEA’s Managing Director of Food, to find a single leader to build and deliver their food strategy. Having gone deeper into the strategy it was clear that greater value would be added by building out a community of advisors and potential collaborators to draw from. We successfully placed two global leaders in sustainable food and nutrition and a growing list of connections to CEO’s of partners who could help them scale their ambitions.

Michael La Cour, MD of Food

“I have worked closely together with the team at Six Degree People, for us crucial, recruitment – and throughout the process the entire team has exceeded my expectations.

They show a genuine interest in the recruitment background and understand and the importance of value driven people strategy and they have provided strong candidates in a very short timeframe which speaks to a solid and current network.

In addition to this I have been thrilled with the proactive approach in helping us to broaden our knowledge and network by connecting us with potential open collaboration partners that we otherwise would not have linked up with – so our experience with Six Degree People has been very positive, reached much beyond a recruitment and will long term have contributed to securing our long term wished position”

Simon Willis

Case Studies

Ross Nicholson, Co-Founder

A Leader for Europe to scale without compromise, Change.org

In reaching the milestone of 100 million users in May 2015, Change.org hit an equally important tipping point where they now have more users outside of the U.S. than inside. In identifying someone to lead their Europe business we needed to balance true business leadership with a deep personal sense of mission and social change.

We’d known Simon Willis for a number of years. We’d been referred to him as a successful business leader with deep-rooted social purpose on many occasions. Simon began life in disarmament and human rights lobbying back in the ‘80’s and then into the UK civil service. The next decade saw him running Cisco’s public sector innovation businesses, building international teams and creating new social ventures such as Connected Urban Development with Clinton Global Initiative. He comes directly from leading the transformation of The Young Foundation. Simon is an outstanding ‘nexus leader’ because he has led organisations of all sizes across business, social enterprise, NGO and public sector.

Simon Willis, European MD

The step into change.org was exactly right for me at this point in my career; social purpose, tech innovation and a complex set of business opportunities.

I love the way Six Degree People work. I've known them for a long time - they have a gift for networking interesting people and a rare understanding of the huge potential of cross-sectoral work. What I really like is their non-instrumental, non-transactional way of working, the way they stay in touch over time, offering insights, connections, trends and opportunities. And when they shepherd you through the complexities of a high level recruitment, they do so with the deep understanding that comes from knowing the individual well, knowing their networks well and staying on top of the complexities of their clients - it’s like being in a secret club that is devoted to the success of its members but also wants the world to be a better place.